Door locking system



March 29, 1966 T. F. PETERS DOOR LOCKING SYSTEM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledApril 22, 1964 I NVENTOR. fleoabre .7 @Zzrs ATTORNEY March 29, 1966 T.F, PETERS 3,243,216

I DOOR LOCKING SYSTEM Filed April 22, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 h INVENTOR.6 .77reoaore Zm ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofilice Patented Mar. 29,1956 3,243,216 DOOR LOCKING SYSTEM Theodore F. Peters, Utica, Mich.,assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation ofDelaware Filed Apr. 22, 1964, Ser. No. 361,771 Claims. (Cl. 292201) Thisinvention relates to vehicle body door locks, and more particularly tovehicle body door locking systems.

One feature of this invention is that it provides a neW and improvedvehicle body door locking system. Another feature of this invention isthat it provides in combination with a door latch for each of thevarious vehicle body doors power-operated means including a single smallunidirectional electric motor for accomplishing power locking andunlocking of the latch. A further feature of this invention is that thepower-operated means are provided in conjunction with manually operablelocking means for the latch, together with means for automaticallyresetting the power-operated means into proper phase with the latch andthe manually operable means should the latch be manually locked orunlocked independently of operation of the power-operated means. Certainother features of the invention reside in the arrangement of controlcircuit switch means for energizing and resetting the poweroperatedmeans over half-cycle revolutions corresponding to the locked andunlocked condition of the latch.

These and other .features and advantages of the invention will bereadily apparent from the following specification and drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a vehicle bodyincluding a door locking system according to this invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged elevational view of a portion of the system;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken generally along the planeindicated by line 33 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken generally along the planeindicated by line 44 of FIGURE 2, showing parts in unlocked position;

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to FIGURE 4 showing the parts in lockedposition; and

FIGURE 6 is a schematic representation of a circuit for the system.

Referring now particularly to FIGURE 1 of the drawings, a vehicle body10 includes front and rear doors 12 and 14 respectively hingedly mountedadjacent their forward edges on the body for swinging movement betweenopen and closed positions. A door latch, designated generally as 16, isprovided in each door 12 and 14 to hold the doors in closed position.Although the door locking system of this invention is equallywell-adapted for use with many known types of door latches, thedescription will proceed with reference to a particular type of doorlatch as disclosed in Patent No. 2,852,296, issued September 16, 1958,to B. D. Priestman. Further, since the components and operation of thesystem are identical with respect to either door 12 or 14, thisdescription will proceed with particular reference to front door 12only.

As shown in FIGURE 2, and as particularly described in Priestman, atoothed bolt 18 rotatably mounted on the frame 19 of the latch isengageable with suitable striker means on the body 19 when door 12 isclosed. A detent, not shown, normally prevents rotation of the boltrelative to the striker means in an opening direction to hold the doorlatched. The detent is adapted to be released through suitable linkageby an outside push button handle assembly 20, and by an inside handle,not shown. Assembly 26 is selectively prevented from releasing thedetent by locking means, shown and described in Priestman and indicatedat 22, which locking means are adapted to be placed in locked andunlocked condition by a locking lever 24 movable between a lockedposition, not shown, and an unlocked position as shown. Such movement oflever 24 is accomplished by manual shifting movement of a garnishlocking rod 26 operating a bellcrank 27 or by operation of mechanism,indicated at 28, associated with a cylinder lock mounted on the outsideof the door 12.

Referring now to FIGURES 2 through 5 of the drawings, power-operatedmeans for selectively placing locking means 22 in either locked orunlocked condition includes a small unidirectional electric motor 30mounted on a lateral flange 32 of latch frame 19. Motor 30 operatesthrough suitable reduction gearing 34 to drive an output shaft 36nonrotatably mounting one end of a cam rotor 38. A shiftable actuatingrod 40 is slidably mounted in an extension 42 of the casing of thereduction gearing 34 and is connected at its upper end by a pin and slotconnection 44 to bell-crank 27. Slidably mounted on rod 40 belowextension 42 is a cam follower member 46 receiving the rod 41) throughapertures in central upper and lower bent flanges 48 thereof, and havingupper and lower bent cam follower flanges S0 and 52 which arerespectively located to the left and to the right of rod 40, as shown inFIGURES 4 and 5. Member 46 is located on rod 40 by a locating shoulder54 welded to the rod and by a relatively stifl compression spring 56seated between a shoulder 58 on rod 40 and the lower central flange 48of member 46.

As seen best in FIGURES 4 and 5, cam flanges and 52 are engageable uponclockwise rotation of rotor 38 by a cam roller 60 rotatably mounted onthe free end of the rotor 38. Assuming now that locking lever 24 islocated in unlocked position, rod 40, and member 46 through spring 56,are located in a corresponding unlocked position as shown in FIGURE 4,wherein cam flange 50 is located out of the path of rotation of roller60, and cam flange 52 is located in such path. When motor 30 isenergized, rotor 38 is rotated clockwise from a generally upward orunlocked position so as to engage the roller 60 thereof with cam flange52 and move member 46 and rod 40 to a lowered or locked position, asshown in FIG- URE 5. Bell-crank 27 is thus rotated clockwise so as tomove locking lever 24 to locked position to lock latch 16. After thislocking of latch 16 is accomplished, motor 30 is deenergized so that therotor 38 is located in a second generally downward or locked position,shown in FIGURE 5 whereupon, should it be desired that the latch 16 beunlocked, motor 30 may again be energized to rotate rotor 38 furtherclockwise toward its unlocked position to engage cam flange 50 and movemember 46, rod 40, and locking lever 24 to their original unlockedpositions.

It will be understood, that by virtue of a lack of interference by rotor38 in the normal locked and unlocked positions thereof to independentmovement of member 46, the locking and unlocking operation of lockinglever 24 may be accomplished in a normal manner by manual movement ofgarnish locking rod 26 or by mechanism 28 independently of any operationof motor 30.

Referring now to FIGURES 4, 5 and 6 of the drawings, control circuitmeans for operating the motors 30 in both doors 12 and 14 will bedescribed, again, having particular reference only to the latch 16 infront door 12. Motor 30 is preferably of the single-field-Winding orunidirectional D.C. type, and one side of the armature 62 thereof isconnected to a battery power source 64 through brush means 66. Theentire unit of motor 30 and reduction unit 34 is insulated by suitablemeans from the grounded latch frame 19 and from rod 40 by an insulativebushing 68. The other brush means for armature 62 is electricallyconnected through output shaft 36, which is insulated from brush 66, toa slide-contact 72 mounted on the inward face of rotor 38. A set ofelongated arcuate contact bars 74, 76, 78 and 89 are mounted on aninsulative board 73 secured to the casing of reduction gearing 34, andlocated so as to be engageable by contact 72 during rotation of rotor38. As seen in FIGURE 6, contact bar 74 is adapted to be connected toground across one side 82a of a double-throw switch 82. Contact bar 78is adapted to be connected to ground across the other side 82b of switchS2. The switch may be located on the instrument panel of body forconvenient operation by driver or passenger.

Referring now to FIGURE 4, should member 46 and rod 40 be initiallylocated in unlocked position, contact 72 of rotor 33 is in engagementwith contact bar '74. Switch 82 may then be thrown to 82a to connectcontact bar 74 to ground and the motor 39 is energized, rotating rotor38 into engagement with cam flange 52. Prior to such engagement, contact72 leaves contact bar 74 and immediately engages contact bar 76 which isgrounded to the vehicle body 10 through member 46 and rod 40 by acontact 86 on the cam flange S2 engaging a tangential extension 88 ofcontact bar 76. Contact bar 76 is thus grounded in all positions of camflange 52 and motor is maintained energized until contact 72 disengagesfrom contact bar 76, the latch 16 in the meantime having been placed inlocked condition. The inertia of motor 3%) and reduction gearing 34locates rotor 38 in the generally downward locked position thereof aftermotor 30 is deenergized, FIGURE 5.

With rotor 38 in locked position, contact 72 is in engagement withcontact bar 7 8, and if it is desired to energize motor 30 to unlocklatch 16, switch 82 is thrown to 8212 to connect contact bar 78 toground. Motor 30 is thus energized to rotate contact 72 of rotor 38 overcon-j tact bar 78 and then into engagement with contact bar 80, which isgrounded by a contact 90 on cam flange 50 which operates similarly tocontact 86 of cam flange 52. After contact 74 of rotor 38 disengagesfrom contact bar 80, latch 16 has been unlocked, motor 30 is deencrgizedand the rotor is located by inertia in the original unlocked position,ready for repeated locking operation by closing of contact bar 74 toground through switch 82.

The door locking system of this invention includes means forautomatically resetting rotor 38 into its proper locked or unlockedposition should locking lever 24, and thus rod and member 46, bemanually moved by locking rod 26 or mechanism 28 independently ofoperation of motor 30.

Referring again to FIGURES 4 and 5, and assuming that all parts areinitially in unlocked position, should locking rod 26 be depressed tolock latch 16, rod 40 and member 46 are moved into locked position.Rotor 38 has in the meantime remained undisturbed, but contact 96 of camflange St) has been located in engagement with contact bar 74 so thatthis contact bar is grounded to the body 10 through member 46 and rod 40to energize motor 30 and rotate rotor 38 over contact bar 74 andgrounded contact bar 76 to the locked position thereof. Motor 30 is thenready to be operated to unlock the latch upon closing of contact bar 78to ground through switch 82. This same resetting sequence obtains shouldthe locking rod 26 be used to move the parts from locked to unlockedposition independently of energization of motor 30, in this case causinggrounding of contact bar 78 through contact 86 of cam flange 52, torotate rotor 38 over this contact bar and the grounded contact bar 80.

It is to be noted that spring 56 provides a safety feature in thatshould there be some interruption of power from battery 64 causing rotor38 to be located in a position immediately above cam flange 52 when inthe locked position thereof, and should locking rod 26 be used tomanually move the parts into unlocked position, the consequent forcedengagement of the cam flange 52 with roller 60 will not cause breakageof the parts, but rather spring 56 will yield sufliciently to preventsuch breakage.

Although, as seen in FIGURE 1, switch 82 controls only the latches 16for doors 12 and 14, it will be understood that the door locking systemof this invention immediately adapts to a so-called fully coincidentaldoor locking system wherein one double-throw-multi-pole switch, locatedpreferably adjacent the drivers side of the vehicle body, is operativeto control all of the various vehicle body door latches.

Thus a new and improved door locking system is provided.

I claim:

1. In a door locking system including a latch and locking means thereformovable between locked and unlocked positions, manually operable meansfor moving said locking means between said positions thereof, motormeans movable between first and second positions correspondingrespectively to said locked and unlocked positions of said locking meansand associated therewith for moving said locking means between saidpositions thereof, a source of power, first selectively operable switchmeans for energizing said motor means by said source of power to movesaid locking means between said positions thereof, and second switchmeans responsive to manual movement of said locking means for energizingsaid motor means by said source of power to move said motor means toeither of the said positions thereof corresponding to the manuallylocated position of said locking means.

2. In a door locking system including a latch and locking means thereformovable between locked and unlocked positions, manually operable meansfor moving said locking means between said positions thereof, anelectric m0- tor, a rotatable operating member driven by said motorbetween first and second positions corresponding respectively to saidlocked and unlocked positions of said locking means, said member beingengageable with said locking means to move said locking means betweensaid positions thereof, a source of power, first selectively operableswitch means for energizing said motor by said source of power to movesaid locking means between said positions thereof, and second switchmeans responsive to manual movement of said locking means for energizingsaid motor by said source of power to move said member to either of thesaid positions thereof corresponding to the manually located position ofsaid locking means.

3. In a door locking system including a latch and locking means thereformovable between locked and unlocked positions, a unidirectional electricmotor, rotatable means driven by said motor between first and secondpositions corresponding respectively to the locked and unlockedpositions, a unidirectional electric motor, rotatable means beingengageable with said locking means to move said locking means betweensaid positions thereof, a source of power, stationary contact means, andsecond contact means mounted on said rotatable means and engageableduring said movement thereof with said stationary contact means, andmanually controlled means for selectively connecting said stationarycontact means to said source of power to energize said motor and movesaid locking means between said positions thereof.

4. In a door locking system including a latch and locking means thereformovable between locked and unlocked positions, manually operable meansfor moving said locking means between said positions thereof, aunidirectional electric motor, rotatable means driven by said motor androtatable between first and second positions corresponding respectivelyto said locked and unlocked positions of said locking means, saidrotatable means being engageable with said locking means to move saidlocking means between said positions thereof, a source of power, firstand second stationary contact means, third contact means mounted on saidrotatable means and engageable during said movement thereof with saidfirst and said second stationary contact means, manually controlledmeans for selectively connecting said first stationary contact means tosaid source of power to energize said motor and move said locking meansbetween said positions thereof, said second stationary contact meansconnecting said motor to said source of power upon manual movement ofsaid locking means to energize said motor and move said rotatable meansto either of the said positions thereof corresponding to the manuallylocated position of said locking means.

5. In a door locking system including a latch and locking means thereformovable between locked and unlocked positions, manually operable meansfor moving said lock ing means between said positions thereof, aunidirectional electric motor, a rotatable member driven by said motorfor rotation between first and second positions correspondingrespectively to said locked and unlocked positions of said lockingmeans, said rotatable member being engageable with said locking meansduring said movement thereof to move said locking means between saidpositions thereof, a source of power, first stationary contact means,second stationary contact means connected to said source of power, thirdcontact means mounted on said rotatable member and engageable duringsaid movement thereof with said first and second contact means, manuallycontrolled means for selectively connecting said first contact means tosaid source of power, said third contact means engaging said firststationary contact means in either of said positions of said rotatablemember so as to initially energize said motor upon operation of saidmanually controlled means, said third contact means engaging said secondcontact means upon initial movement of said rotatable member from eitherof said positions thereof to continue energization of said motor to movesaid rotatable member to the other of said positions thereof, and meansresponsive to manual movement of said locking means to engage saidfirst, second and third contact means to energize said motorindependently of operation of said manually controlled means to movesaid motor from either of said positions to the position thereofcorresponding to the manually located position of said locking means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,700,433 1/1929Cox. 2,935,351 5/1960 Garvey et al. 292-201 X 3,030,794 4/1962 Dyer etal. 292-201 X FOREIGN PATENTS 116,683 3/194'3 Great Britain.

JOSEPH D. SEERS, Primary Examiner.

R. E. MOORE, Assistant Examiner.

1. IN A DOOR LOCKING SYSTEM INCLUDING A LATCH AND LOCKING MEANS THEREFORMOVABLE BETWEEN LOCKED AND UNLOCKED POSITIONS, MANUALLY OPERABLE MEANSFOR MOVING SAID LOCKING MEANS BETWEEN SAID POSITIONS THEREOF, MOTORMEANS MOVABLE BETWEEN FIRST AND SECOND POSITIONS CORRESPONDINGRESPECTIVELY TO SAID LOCKED AND UNLOCKED POSITIONS OF SAID LOCKING MEANSAND ASSOCIATED THEREWITH FOR MOVING SAID LOCKING MEANS BETWEEN SAIDPOSITIONS THEREOF, A SOURCE OF POWER, FIRST SELECTIVELY OPERABLE SWITCHMEANS FOR ENERGIZING SAID MOTOR MEANS BY SAID SOURCE OF POWER TO MOVESAID LOCKING MEANS BETWEEN SAID POSITIONS THEREOF, AND SECOND SWITCHMEANS RESPONSIVE TO MANUAL MOVEMENT OF SAID LOCKING MEANS FOR ENERGIZINGSAID MOTOR MEANS BY SAID SOURCE OF POWER TO MOVE SAID MOTOR MEANS TOEITHER OF THE SAID POSITIONS THEREOF CORRESPONDING TO THE MANUALLYLOCATED POSITION OF SAID LOCKING MEANS.